Setting Specific Information
Rooms of Note: The Silver Key – The Freehold Lounge 3R - Oncology Ward of a local hospital - Autumn Hollow Fantasty Inc - Spring Hollow Guardian Angel Cathedral - Summer Hollow Red Square Restaurant - Winter Hollow New Title: Sage: Similar to Vampire Harpy, this individual records all the members of all motleys acknowledged within the Las Vegas Freehold. All motleys must have a common badge registered with the Sage in order to attend the Councils. Pledges are also registered with the Sage. Grievances are also lodged with the Sage, who in turn reports them to the current Ruler who is the only one that may gather the Council of Mercy. The Sage is the only one that knows the true names of all the members of the Council of Mercy outside of the leaders of the motleys.Territory must also be registered. During Autumn and Winter all new entrances and exits to the Hedge must be registered also. It is generally wise to report these entrances to the Sage as it is, the Sage will easily point out that Bei Mao once decided only to report openings he made during these two seasons and look what happened to him. Who is Bei Mao you ask? Exactly my point. The Stardust Sentries: This is a group of non-Freeholder changelings of great power. They are a motley of Greeters. They find changelings in the Hedge or wandering about the city that do not bare the unseen mark of the Freehold's acceptance or denial. Those that wish to join the Freehold are led to a secret location where a Freehold representative meets the Sentries to take on the new pledgeling. The Sentries are paid by the Freehold for their services and are loyal only to themselves. Should the Freehold betray them, they would no longer bring people to them to bolster their ranks. The Council of Mercy: Once a month a Council is conveened. All four Rulers, all the Viziers, a small cadre of unknown individuals and the leader of each motley are called to order to discuss the goings on of the city. Here is where new laws are entered into the Freehold Charter and only THESE individuals may decide to dole out the Three Mercies (Death, Banishment and Death Pledges). Only during Autumn's reign are the options of Imprisonment and return to the Fae an option. It is whispered that Cynthia Sloane holds this power based off of some unimaginable sway over the other three rulers. Though the Council of Mercy judges The Silver Key's judicial matters there are punishments for breaking certain laws that may only be ordered by the current ruler and may only be carried out by The Norns. These Laws are called The Strings. When the Council meets it is in a large warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Once inside they are asked to cloak themselves and wear masks to protect the identities of the speakers. Careful magics have been applied to this place and even when one individual speaks, the sound of his or her voice is twisted and warped to sound like the voice of which ever individual currently sits on the throne of the Freehold. The power of the crown of The Silver Key is atuned to this magic. Freehold place of Sanctuary: The Freehold's sigil is only placed on places in which the Freehold it's self supports Sanctuary. These are not bound simply by the courts themselves but by the very members upon which the pledge lays. The Freehold's sigil is a mixing of the emblem of the four court rulers. Where ever it is seen, all Freehold members are required to keep Sanctuary. Punishment for not upholding the Sanctuary is a serious matter and is immediately taken up with the Council. Interestingly enough there are places within Las Vegas that in addition to the Freehold sigil another is seen, the sigil of either a motley or a court. Where these are seen they denote ownership and imply that members sworn specifically on this emblem risk even more to protect the Sanctuary and earn even more ire should they decide not to. The Hedge: A great expanse of twisted desert. The sky crackles with lightening that seems to ever be striking the sanded pit. The sky seems to be constantly in a state of transition between day and night, night and day. The vast wasteland is cut with very few barriers and while the Thorns guard the passage between the Hedge and the real world, the sand dunes are the real keepers of this place. Pockets of mirages and oasis are sprinkled all over. Great Thunderbirds fly above and the sounds of the deadly desert surround everywhere. There are bastions of green though. Like the very city in which they live, the changelings of Las Vegas have brought life to a lifeless place. There are whispers through out the Autumn and the Winter court that the fact that in the area that would normally surround the city, a vast and deep verdant green lush jungle lays, is a strange thing. Some sages within the Autumn court believe that this vast jungle has something to do with Kiki Urup's strange grasp on the Spring Crown and why Spring has always flourished here in Las Vegas. Others believe that this lush space is the direct reflection of the city it's self; a juxtaposition to it's surrounding of parched red dirt and withering plants is just like the sprawling lively city that spring up out of the wasteland. Trods: Due to their alliance with the Freehold of LA and San Francisco, the freehold maintains two trods, one going directly to each of these places. One dumps out in a particularly seedy and secluded area of the "LA River" and the other dumps out literally under Pier 49. The trod to San Francisco is generally only traveled with a strong swimmer as the leader of the party, after all, who better to tame the tiger sharks and bull sharks and other hedge beasts that frequent this area than a Swimmerskin or a Waterdweller or a Water Elemental? The LA trod is rarely if ever taken, the alliance between the two freeholds though once forged very very strongly has slowly begun to erode away and there are those within the freehold that whisper that it should be closed off, for surely any day now the great war leader of the Directionals that have all but taken over the area that the trod opens up to, will come to concur the Las Vegas freehold.